Achieve Gives Guidance to States on Developing Well Rounded Science Assessments

By Dian Schaffhauser

04/17/2018

As states sort out their science standards — many adopting the Next Generation Science Standards and even more going at the work on their own — all of them are expected to adhere to "high-quality" summative science assessments that meet federal requirements spelled out in Title 1 Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Achieve, one of the organizations behind the development of NGSS, recently released criteria that can be used by states to develop those grade-level tests and know that they meet federal expectations. Finding success, a new report advised, will require becoming sticklers in three areas:

Using "intentional design": making sure not just that the assessment items mesh with the standards but also that they meet the priorities set by the individual state, that decision-making can be backed up by evidence and that the items are accessible to all students, among other aspects.

Supporting design decisions and rationales through evidence: In other words, documentation of the assessment development process to make decisions and rationale "explicit and transparent."

Reflecting more comprehensive learning goals: It's no longer sufficient to include one test question per learning standard; tasks may touch on all or parts of multiple standards, requiring reconsideration of "content centrality and complexity."

The guidance is grounded in three elements: an "evolving understanding of how best to assess multi-dimensional standards"; the research that lays out what all students should know and be able to do in science; and the lessons learned through the processes undertaken by pioneering states as they developed their "three-dimensional assessments."